Snapchat Lens Creator Spotlight: Sarah Mayer

The psychedelic seems to be typical for Sarah Mayer. The designer, who has a background in fashion, now makes her living on sharing the funky, surreal, and downright beautiful.

Her Snapchat lenses may seem like a far cry from hand-sewing and pattern-making, but the connection is closer than you might think! I was grateful to touch base with Sarah and hear her thoughts on the future of Snapchat and AR.

Q: How long have you been using Snapchat? When did you start making your own lenses?

A: I made my first lens on November 3, 2019, at 5:07 PM named Alien Elf. I did not think that I would by now earn my living with something that started as pure curiosity.

Q: Where do you see your career going — how important is it for you to be a digital creator?

A: Being a digital creator and lens artist has given me a way to express art with a new medium which is developing rapidly and never [ceases] to amaze with its potential.

Personally, I am also a gamer and of course one day I would love to see myself in a full body AR armor of my choice, becoming my avatar 1:1 size. At the moment, I cannot imagine going back to work purely with physical materials for my creations.

Q: Which lens is your current favorite?

A: I think the filter I made in collaboration with artist Camille Mercier(9AKA @talking.shell) is one of my favorites. It is called Pleurobrachia. Pleurobrachia looks very much like the physical headpiece made by Camille Mercier with the addition of some virtual magic. The piece was also featured on @expo156.

Q: What do you like about creating lenses and seeing people use them?

A: I have a background in fashion and one of the most exciting moments in fashion is to see someone wear your creation, not because you told them to, (during a catwalk show, for example) but because they like it and feel fabulous in it. I get this excitement every time someone uses my filters.

Q: How do you build your lenses?

A: Many people think my lenses use scripts and highly developed patches, etc., but that is actually not true. I have no background in coding whatsoever.

I am emphasizing this to hopefully motivate other creatives out there [to see] that they should not be afraid of new technologies; Any skill learned can, and will, come in handy.

I think my background in fashion is precisely what I refer to when I make lenses, and, of course, some determination and loads of tutorials.

Q: As a Lens Studio Creator, what opportunities do you think a tool like SnapML provides?

A: The future will show. I can imagine, for example, new experiences while driving your car or a fantastic visit in the supermarket…with anything remotely significant being a trigger for an effect, turning the world inside your phone into a wonderland.

It will certainly create new visuals that we have not imagined before [and] create new versions of ourselves.

Learn more about Sarah and her work on her website.

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Fritz

Our team has been at the forefront of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning research for more than 15 years and we're using our collective intelligence to help others learn, understand and grow using these new technologies in ethical and sustainable ways.

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